On 21 March 1995, between 7:45 and 10: 15 a.m., I watched line after line of ducks move west in the Gulf of Mexico from surf line to a few hundred yards offshore from my vantage point at Ft. Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Escambia County, Pensacola, Florida. The movement was comprised predominately of Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors) with a good number of Northern Shovelers (Anas clypeata) mixed in. One line contained scoters (Melanitta sps) and another line had two large orange-tan ducks with white crescents at the base of the tail bringing up the rear, Fulvous Whistling-Ducks (Dendrocygna bicolor). The lines were made up of about 50 birds on average, spaced about three to four minutes apart. I estimated 1800 to 2500 ducks passed by while I was there. Movements tapered off toward the end of the observation period.
Author: Robert A. Duncan
Volume Number: 42 Year Published: 1995
Issue Number: 1
Page Number: 10
Link to article: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1995/Vol 42 No. 1_1995_p10-12.pdf
Link to the full issue of BirdLife: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1995/Vol 42 No. 1_1995.pdf
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